‘We love big, hard challenges': Nvidia's Richard Kerris on empowering Indian content creators

Mint

30-04-2025

Mumbai: 'We love big, hard challenges."
That's the line Richard Kerris, vice president of media & entertainment at Nvidia, keeps returning to – and not just as a catchphrase. It's how the US chipmaking company is approaching the transformation of content creation, live events, gaming, and immersive storytelling through AI and accelerated computing.
On his first visit to India for the inaugural Waves summit, Kerris shared Nvidia's long-term vision for the Indian media and entertainment ecosystem, a market that he said is on the cusp of going from outsourcing to ownership. For someone driving global strategy for one of the world's most advanced AI platforms, Kerris remains rooted in creativity.
'It's one thing to talk about the technology," he said, 'it's another to actually use it."
A photographer himself, Kerris sees creativity as core to how Nvidia engages with its partners, users and developers. He said GenAI is now supercharging that creative spirit. India, Kerris said, has traditionally been seen as a service hub for animation and post-production. But that narrative is shifting.
'Studios here already know how to collaborate and deliver on time and on budget. Now they'll start driving the creative concept too," he said.
One big reason for this change is Nvidia's consistent software stack: the same platform runs across consumer-grade GeForce cards and billion-dollar data centres.
'We've seen content made on GeForce cards win Academy Awards," he said, adding that affordability no longer has to limit capability. New compact AI devices like Spark are aimed at smaller creators, offering real-time rendering and scalable output without ballooning costs.
'From the aspirational to the professional, we have a platform that solves for both," Kerris added.
Beyond content creation, Nvidia enables a new kind of media consumption where fans become participants. He referenced Arcturus and Viewport, companies that use AI to stitch together stadium feeds, allowing viewers to pick camera angles, follow players in real time or get instant AI-generated highlights.
'We're seeing the rise of truly interactive experiences, whether it's an NBA match or a live concert," Kerris said. 'This is a compute-intensive challenge, and that's what we do best."
With India's live entertainment market expanding and consumer expectations shifting towards immersion, Nvidia's role in enabling real-time, personalised experiences is only expected to grow.
Real-time rendering, once a post-production bottleneck, is another frontier being redefined. Kerris noted that about 20% of productions use game engines like Unreal, a figure projected to hit 70% in five years.
'You can now do multiple shoots in a day and use virtual lighting and LED backdrops. It's about giving control back to the creator," he said.
This shift is particularly critical in India, where films are made in various languages and demand highly localised versions. Using AI, Nvidia-backed tools also enable real-time dubbing, not just translating but adjusting lip sync, facial structure, and even dialect.
'The translation has to understand the context," Kerris said. 'Saying something in LA vs Mumbai? The tools need to adapt to that nuance. It's not just subtitling anymore but a story-preserving transformation."
With generative AI becoming easier and faster to deploy, concerns around originality and creative integrity are rising.
'There's a fear of what's not understood," Kerris admitted. 'But we've always had tools. The key is knowing how to use them responsibly."
Nvidia, he said, is working closely with partners like Adobe to embed watermarking, traceability, and data ownership in the AI development pipeline.
'What you train on is as important as what you output," he said, stressing that content made with AI should still reflect the creator's intent. He pushed back against the idea that AI-generated music or visuals will replace human creativity.
'You might hear an AI-generated song once, but would you put it on a playlist? Taste is human. That's not going away," he said.
Looking ahead, Kerris is particularly excited about agentic AI (systems that make decisions and act autonomously), that can mimic mentors or iconic creators.
'Imagine a trained AI agent that gives you feedback like a legendary director would," he said. 'What better way to inspire the next generation than to let them learn directly from icons, even virtually?"
He sees this as particularly powerful in education.
'We all want to be mentored. AI can make that access possible," Kerris said.
As India moves from a back-end contributor to a creative originator, Kerris sees Nvidia playing a vital role.
'We're not here to just sell chips. We're here to partner with studios, with startups, with creators," he said.
The company is already in talks with local partners and cloud providers like Yotta and E2E Networks to offer flexible compute access at scale.
'India has the talent. Now it's about building creative confidence," he said. 'This is going to be an amazing next few years."